The United States authorities have ordered this Friday to suspend all departures for all airports in its territory, citing “extraordinary circumstances and security reasons”, so departure flights must remain grounded until further notice.
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has indicated in an alert that the order is due to “extraordinary circumstances and security reasons.” “All outbound traffic must remain on the ground until further notice,” he added without giving further details.
Transport Secretary Sean Duffy, for his part, has pointed to a “communication problem” in air traffic control.
Onda Cero’s correspondent in the United States, Agustín Alcalá, reported in La Brújula that the pilots initially reported a delay of one hour and then went on to announce a seven-hour wait. The journalist has also explained that the planes that were in the air at that moment have begun to land at the nearest airports or fly to their point of origin following the protocol.
The airport’s security systems attribute the decision to a “technical problem” in the operating frequencies of the control towers of the North American country and rule out the possibility that it is a cyber attack. The US Secretary of Security, Markwayne Mullin, has assured that there is no reason to arouse fear in the population.
The Secretary of Transportation of the North American country has assured that it is a communication problem of all the control centers and air traffic routes. “The control towers are not able to connect with each other.” The journalist has indicated that at this moment there are a total of 7,800 flights delayed and 350 canceled.
In an appearance before the media, Mullin assured that at the moment he cannot determine the service of the technical failure, and has insisted on sending a message of calm.
Second suspension of air traffic since 9/11
For his part, Pablo R. Suanzes, a journalist based in the US, has also explained in the Brújula that this is the second time since the 9/11 attacks that a measure of this type has been taken in the United States. The other occasion occurred in 2023 and lasted just two hours, it was caused by a failure in the alert system designed to inform pilots about safety problems.
Also fall of the meteorological service
In parallel, the US National Weather Service (NWS) reported this Friday that it was experiencing communications and internet problems nationwide, which could prevent users from accessing the products on its websites or cause outdated information to be displayed. Technicians were working to resolve the issues as quickly as possible, the NWS said in a statement.
